2 hours later
Lyn woke up a few minutes ago, and tried to leave his hold only to stumble so he brought her to his arms again. The whole time she seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him and Rhys realized why. Now she is reverting back to being cold? But still, he had to admit these last two hours were a luxury to him. His thoughts broke off when he hears footsteps, Rhys looked up and spotted maroon coloured hair. A goofey grin on his face.
"Lat-," Rhys sentence falls short when the girl abruptly moved away from him. He frowned, hey now, don't take advantage of his warmth and then leave. Since Lyn moved so quickly, Kazuya did not see a thing.
Kazuya blinked and ran his hand through his wet locks, "Nobody expected you two to be in a place like this."
But Rhys wasn't paying attention to Kazuya; his gaze was on Lyn. For the last few minutes, when she was in his arms, he noticed something. The girl's cheeks were flushed; at first, he thought that was because of her embarrassment of being held by him. While that was a far-fetched idea, a man can dream cant they?
"Hey, you okay? " Rhys asked bending down and placing his hand on the girl's forehead, "You might have a fever…"
"Let go," Lyn murmured.
Rhys clicked his tongue in annoyance, 'and now she's gone back to being stubborn,' earlier she was so obedient. No, earlier they were just chatting about serious matters.
"Kazuya," Lyn called out, she opened her arms out, "Hug please," Rhys looked at the girl with wide eyes. Gosh, she's cute. How can somebody so beautiful and elegant, have such a sweet side to themselves?
Kazuya smiled and walked over; he wrapped his arms around the girl, "So, what have you been up to? Did Rhys do anything strange?"
"Nuh-uh,"
Isn't she going to mention the hug?
.....
"Huh, you were attacked?!" Kazuya seemed very surprised.
"They didn't go after you?"
"No," Kazuya shook his head, "They must be after Lyn then."
It really must be the first Princess then, of course, she wouldn't send anyone Kazuya's way. Kazuya must have thought the same since his frown deepened, "Lyn, don't leave my side even for a little while."
"Okay," Lyn didn't seem to have a problem with that.
.....
XXX Inn
Though Rhys thought it was too dangerous to stop by an inn, Kazuya said this would be better, 'Even the Princess won't attack in broad daylight,' after he said that, Rhys gave it some thought before he agreed. Princess Lethia may be careless, but she won't expose her true colors so easily. Even though there are those who know of her true nature, there are still some blind people out there who think she is kind and friendly.
"Didn't you say you'd follow after her? Why are you on this side?" Rhys mocked. After getting drenched in the rain, the first thing they wanted was a bath. Thankfully, no other customers staying were taking their baths at this time so they could have their peace and quiet.
Kazuya turned red at his words, "Shut it," he muttered, "If I did that, she would hit me."
Rhys rolled his eyes, "Why are you getting embarrassed for? Weren't you two getting rather intimate before?"
"T—that, we were just kissing."
'Why are they saying the same thing?' Rhys thought it's almost like they rehearsed this, "You two are annoying," he muttered.
"Lyn? Annoying? But she's the cutest thing in the world."
Rhys stared at his friend, speechless. This love-struck idiot. Since coming to the Mist Kingdom, Kazuya has changed a lot. Is it because he fell in love with Lyn? He knew the Princess had a great deal of influence on Kazuya now, because whenever they have meetings or do a job. Kazuya is always like, 'I need to consult with Lyn first,' when he first heard that Rhys knew that the idiot already told the Princess about the Sound Kingdom's intentions.
It shocked him, but Kazuya insisted that Lyn wouldn't tell anyone. Indeed, Rhys kept an eye on her after Kazuya said he told her, the girl didn't tell anybody. Still, Rhys was very troubled by this, it's one thing to get along better with each other - but to expose each and every one of their plans. Rhys wondered how much Princess Lyn understood what Kazuya told her.
The girl isn't remotely naive, and the fact that she can influence Kazuya's decisions so strongly. 'It's worrying,' Rhys thought. At first, he didn't think much of it. Kazuya is merely experiencing love for the first time, and he's doing his job too. Rhys didn't think he would get influenced by her this much.
What a frightening woman, she unknowingly has hold of so many influential people's hearts and the thing that's scary is. Lyn doesn't know anything. She's influencing people without realizing it. Whether or not it's a good influence, Rhys doesn't know. But their Kingdoms are still enemies. What if Lyn were to tell Kazuya to switch sides? Lately, Kazuya doesn't see the Mist Kingdom as much of a threat anymore. He's getting friendly with King Daichi too.
"Hey, Kazuya?"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you propose to Lyn?"
"Wh—wha," Kazuya looked at him, dumbfounded, "What are you talking about?"
"I mean if you genuinely like her, we don't have to treat her as a pawn anymore. If you two get married, we can use the alliance treaty instead of going with our original plan; you'd like that better wouldn't you?" Rhys asked. With the way things are now, Rhys knew Kazuya wouldn't harm the Mist Kingdom soldiers. The whole marching in and sneaking in their troop's plan, at a time where the Mist Kingdom is defenseless will not work now.
However, the Sound Kingdom Elders prepared for this situation. Rhys didn't think he would have to bring up this plan so soon though.
Kazuya seemed to consider his words but shook his head, "The thing is, I really do like Lyn, and I do want to be with her forever. So yes, I'd like to take her as my wife. But for her? This is still something new. I don't want to rush her."
"Kazuya, man, that's sweet and all. But we don't have a lot of time."
"I know that," Kazuya snapped, "But, what do you want me to do? Force myself on her? Even if I ask her to marry me now, she won't say yes."
Well, if Kazuya doesn't force himself on her - and wants to take things the slow way, "You know, I have permission from the elders. 'Just in case, he fails his mission. Step up,' is what they told me," Rhys reminded him.
"Would you actually do that? You've gotten to know Lyn quite well too, now that you've gotten to know her. Can you do that?" Kazuya challenged.
Rhys couldn't reply right away, even though he ought to have, 'Damn,' he mentally cursed. Isn't he supposed to be the rational one here? What is he doing, getting caught up in the flow for?